Songs: Fleet Foxes – Mykonos

Ben Vernel takes a look at one of Fleet Foxes early tracks, the bright and beautiful Mykonos.

Mykonos is one of those rare works of art that is, for all intents and purposes, perfect. A brilliantly played, skillfully written and intuitively structured folk-pop song, Mykonos was the highlight of Seattle band Fleet Foxes’ 2008 EP Sun Giant. While the band may be best known for single White Winter Hymnal (featured on their breakthrough self-titled release), Mykonos is, in my opinion, the superior song.

Tight acoustic picking and dulled drums open the 4:35 wonder, leading directly into the clean-yet-earthy verse arrangement that forms the basis for the first half of the song. If the instrumentation is good, the lyrics are great. They’re fluid, they’re articulate, and they’re flowery without being pretentious.

And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made

At the halfway point of the songthe familiar repeated verse structure falls away and a chorus of voices rise up, signaling a shift in tempo and tone. I love songs which demonstrate an ability to be dynamic without sounding gimmicky, and there’s absolutely nothing about Fleet Foxes that sounds gimmicky. This is amazing music.